In the winter and
spring of 1862, a tiny force of Confederate cavalry, Company
A of Baylor's Regiment of Arizona Rangers, conducted a
brilliant campaign in the deserts of what is now Arizona. Under the command of Captain
(later Colonel) Sherod Hunter, this tiny Confederate force (consisting of
less than 100 men), liberated what is now the state of Arizona from the rule of
the United States, carried the Confederate flag nearly to the banks of the
Colorado River (the farthest west penetration of the Confederate army), delayed
by more than a month the invasion of Arizona by a 2,000-man Union army from
California, and fought and won the westernmost battle of the War Between the
States (Picacho Pass, April 15, 1862). Yet today Captain Hunter and his command
are rarely mentioned in the histories of the War Between the States, and the
campaign itself is almost forgotten. This article will attempt to correct that
injustice.

Governor John R.
Baylor

Confederate
Territory of Arizona

On February 10,
1862, Captain Hunter received the following order from his commanding officer,
Lt. Colonel John Robert Baylor.1

HEADQUARTERS,
Mesilla,

February 10,
1862

CAPTAIN SHEROD
HUNTER

SIR. You will,
without delay, move with your company to Tucson and select some point in the
vicinity of that place for a camp until further orders. You will also escort
Col. Jas Riley (sic) to the Mexican border, or to some point where he can get an
escort from the Mexican authorities. The detachment of Capt. Helm's Company will
return with Col. Riley.

Respectfully,

JNO R. BAYLOR

Col. Cmdg.

In a separate
document, Hunter received specific orders for his operations after his arrival
in Tucson. Hunter was to "maintain law and order both among the citizens
and soldiers" in Tucson; to "cultivate amicable relations" with
the citizens of the Mexican state of Sonora; to make a treaty with the chiefs of
the Pima and Papago Indians, and to secure the aid of said Indian tribes against
the Apaches; to attempt to open communications with California and to secure
recruits for the Confederate armies therefrom; and to scout forward toward Fort
Yuma and to report the activities of the Union forces stationed there.2

Map of the
Confederate Territory of Arizona

The genesis of
these orders goes back to August of 1861, when Baylor, at the head of 250
Confederate cavalrymen, invaded the United States Territory of New Mexico.
Baylor had captured the Union garrison of Fort Fillmore (interestingly enough,
Sherod Hunter had served as a civilian scout under Baylor's command during this
campaign), and issued a proclamation splitting off the southern half of the New
Mexico Territory and creating the Confederate
Territory of Arizona.3 Tucson, although
selected as the site of one of the two District Courts for the new Territory,
had received little other benefit from Baylor's action. The town was under
virtual siege by the Apaches, and Governor Baylor simply had no troops to spare
for its protection. Mines and ranches in the area had to be abandoned, as the
miners and ranchers gathered within Tucson's adobe walls to escape the marauding
Apache raiders.4

Brigadier
General Henry Hopkins Sibley

Commander of the
Confederate Army of New Mexico

Upon the arrival
in December 1861 of Brigadier General Henry Hopkins Sibley and his three
regiments of Texas cavalry, grandly named the "Army of New Mexico" by
their commander, the military situation in the Confederate Territory of Arizona
changed. Rather than standing on the defensive, as Baylor had been forced to do
since his victory in August, the Confederates would now take the offensive and
invade the northern half of the old U.S. Territory of New Mexico, which was
still under Union control. Control of this Territory, Sibley believed, would
provide a base for the invasion and occupation of California, Colorado, Utah,
and northern Mexico.5

Sibley recognized
the importance of Tucson and Western Arizona for the Confederacy. It was thus
that Sibley wrote, on January 27, 1862, a letter to the Adjutant General of the
Confederate States Army, General Samuel Cooper, which included the following
passage:

"With a
view to the protection of the important and growing interest, chiefly mineral,
in Western Arizona, and for the further purpose of opening communications with
Southern California, whose people are favorably inclined to our Government, I
have ordered one company (Captain Hunter's) of Colonel Baylor's command to take
post at Tucson."6

Upon receipt of
Governor Baylor's order, Captain Hunter and his men saddled up to begin a long
and arduous journey that would last almost two weeks. Hunter and his men
encountered great difficulties during the trip from Mesilla to Tucson, not the
least of which was Mother Nature herself. Violent storms plagued the command
through its entire journey, and not all of them would complete the journey
alive...Private Benjamin Mays succumbed to pleurisy at San Simon whilst en route
to Tucson. It was thus a battered, and likely very ragged-looking company of
Confederate Arizona Rangers which rode into Tucson on February 28, 1862.7

Tucson, Arizona
as it appeared in 1864

Hunter, in a
report dated April 5, 1862, described in glowing terms the reaction of Tucson's
people to the arrival of the Confederate troops, saying that "My timely
arrival with my command was hailed by a majority, may I say the entire
population of the town of Tucson."8
However, Hunter's statement is not entirely correct. While there is no doubt
that the majority of the Anglo population of Tucson was of decided Confederate
feelings (indeed, the local militia had, even before the arrival of Hunter and
his command, gone into battle against the Apaches whilst possibly carrying a
Confederate flag9, and there had been secession
conventions in Tucson in March and August of 1861)10,
there were, nevertheless, a number of Union Men in Tucson.

One of Hunter's
first acts after his arrival in Tucson, after procuring food and clothing for
his men, was to call in the known Union men. Hunter presented them with the
following oath, giving them the option of either signing it or leaving Tucson:

"I do
solemnly swear or affirm that I will be a true and loyal citizen of the
Government of the Confederate States of America. And that I will bear true
allegiance (sic) to the same. That I will as a faithful and good citizen observe
and obey all laws of said Government. That I will at all times whenever required
by the proper authority take up arms in defense of the rights and liberties of
said Government. And that I hereby renounce allegiance to all and every other
Government but that of the Confederate States of America. So help me God."11

Several, such as
Sam Hughes, Peter Brady, Solomon Warner, and Esteban Ochoa, refused to sign the
oath. Ochoa was especially eloquent, saying, "Captain Hunter, it is out of
the question for me to swear allegiance to any party or power hostile to the
United States government, for to that government I owe all my prosperity and
happiness. When, Sir, do you wish me to go?" Hunter gave him an hour to
gather his belongings and get out of town.12Hunter confiscated the property of Tucson Unionists and used it to provide
for the needs of his men. He also confiscated Union-owned mines in the area, but
it is doubtful whether he got any of them in operation for the Confederacy.13

Be that as it may,
however, there is no doubt that nearly everyone in Tucson was elated to have
Captain Hunter and his command in the town. One did not have to be a
secessionist to welcome the presence of soldiers and their protection from the
marauding Apaches. And there were plenty of secessionists in Tucson who welcomed
Hunter not only as a protector, but as a liberator.

Raising the Confederate Flag over
Tucson

March 1, 1862

Captain Hunter's
command was accompanied to Tucson by Colonel James Reily and his escort from the
Arizona Guards. But Reily would not stay in Tucson, as he had important business
of his own, namely a diplomatic mission to the Governor of the Mexican state of
Sonora.14 However, he tarried long enough in
Tucson to take part in the formal flag-raising ceremony (March 1, 1862), whereby
Captain Hunter took officially took possession of Tucson, and Western Arizona,
for the Confederate States of America. Reily, a renowned orator, made a rousing
speech which was received with cheers by the crowd, although the words have not
been recorded.15 On March 3, 1862, Colonel
Reily departed for Sonora, accompanied by his escort, 20 men led by Lieutenant
James Henry Tevis.16

Fortunately,
Captain Hunter was able to gain a number of recruits for his Company at Tucson,
which partially compensated for the drain imposed by the need to provide an
escort for Colonel Reily. Eight Tucson residents enlisted in the Arizona Rangers
at Tucson on March 1, 1862. They were Thomas Childs, William Finley, John Ham,
John W. Hill, John Insalman, John Keegan, James King, and Frederick Summit. In
addition, Privates Thomas McAlpine, Thomas Farrell, and Davis Wisdom, all
members of the Arizona Guards which had come to Tucson as part of Colonel
Reily's escort, transferred into Hunter's company at Tucson on March 1, 1862.17
Finally, Lieutenant John W. "Jack" Swilling, also of the Arizona
Guards (he had commanded Colonel Reily's escort until its arrival in Tucson)
remained in Tucson after the departure of Colonel Reily's escort for Sonora, and
took an active part in the upcoming campaign. He may have transferred, as did
the three Privates mentioned above, into Hunter's company, but if so all record
of the transfer has been lost.18 Thus
reinforced, Sherod Hunter and the Arizona Rangers prepared for the coming
campaign.

The Pima
Villages

Sherod Hunter,
too, was not long idle in Tucson. On March 3, 1862, the same day that Colonel
Reily left for Sonora, Captain Hunter set out with about 20-30 men (the
remainder having been sent out in detachments against the ever-troublesome
Apaches) for the villages of the Pima Indians. These villages were located on
the Gila River, near the sites of the present day towns of Sacaton and Casa
Grande, Arizona (the Pimas still live in the region, which is today encompassed
by the Gila River Indian Reservation).19

Hunter's mission
at the Pima villages was twofold. First, Captain Hunter had orders from Governor
Baylor to negotiate and establish friendly relations with the Pimas, and to
enlist their aid in fighting the common enemy of both the Pimas and the
Confederates...the Apache.20 Second, Hunter had
heard in Tucson rumors of an imminent invasion of Arizona by a Union army from
California. Part of his motivation for going to the Pima villages was to
investigate these rumors, and if the rumors were found to be true, to do what he
could to delay the progress of this invasion.21

Upon his arrival,
Hunter met with the chief of the Pimas, Antonio Azul.22
The Pimas had always been friendly to the white population, and the political
dispute then in progress between the North and the South held no meaning for
them. Hunter therefore had no difficulty in securing a mutual defense treaty
between the Confederacy and the Pimas.23

White's Mill

Hunter soon
discovered the truth of the rumors he had heard concerning the formation of a
Union army in California, and that army's intention to invade Arizona. The
California Column, a brigade of approximately 1,500 men under the command of
Colonel James Henry Carleton, was indeed preparing to invade Arizona.24
In preparation for that invasion, a federal purchasing agent had been at work
among the Pimas, purchasing wheat for the Union forces. The agent, one Ammi M.
White, was the owner of a grist mill located at the villages, and had
accumulated a store of 1,500 sacks of wheat. Captain Hunter ordered the arrest
of Mr. White, and confiscated all of White's property, especially the wheat.
"This (wheat) I distributed among the Indians," Hunter later wrote,
"as I had no means of transportation, and deemed this a better policy of
disposing of it than to destroy it or leave it for the benefit (should it fall
into their hands) of the enemy."25

Although Hunter
did not know it, the confiscation of this 1,500 sacks of wheat would prove to be
one of the most effective blows he would strike against the Union California
Column. The Union army had depended on that wheat being at the Pima villages
when they arrived, and it proved a severe inconvenience to them when they found
it was not available for their use. Indeed, the final Union advance to Tucson
was delayed by more than two weeks because the Union leaders could not arrange
for the supplies needed for their men. The Pimas would not accept Union
currency, and would only trade their wheat for manta, a type of tradecloth. The
Union forces had neglected to bring any manta with them...they had thought the
wheat was there waiting for them! Captain William Calloway, commanding the
advance guard of the California Column upon its arrival at the Pima villages,
would write to his superiors, "Send us Manta or we will starve. We have
only one day's rations at present." It took mostof two weeks to get
sufficient supplies of manta to purchase enough wheat to supply the Union
troops. During that time the Unionists lived on the scanty supplies they had
brought wlth them, and on the generosity of the Pima.26

An interesting
postscript to the story of the confiscated wheat was provided by John Ross
Browne, author of ADVENTURES IN THE APACHE COUNTRY: A TOUR THROUGH ARIZONA,
1864. Browne informs us that in 1863 the Pimas sold over a million pounds of
wheat to the Federal Government. Included in that total was much of the wheat
confiscated by Hunter and redistributed to the Pima the year before.27

Captain William
McCleave

1st California
Cavalry

However, the
siezure of Ammi White and his wheat was not to be the only incident of note
during Hunter's stay at the Pima villages. As Hunter himself later wrote,
"While delaying at the Pima villages, awaiting the arrival of a train of 50
wagons which was reported to be en route for that place for said wheat (which
report, however, turned out to be untrue) my pickets discovered the approach of
a detachment of Cavalry, and which detachment, I am happy to say, we succeeded
in capturing without firing a gun. This detachment consisted of Captain William
McCleave and nine men of the First California Cavalry."28

The manner of this
capture deserves some elaboration. Captain McCleave and his escort of nine men
rode into the Pima villages on the morning of a day in mid-March, 1862 (the date
is uncertain...various sources give dates as various as March 6, 9, 10, 11, and
18. McCleave’s service record shows a date of March 10, and the paroles issued
to the captured Union enlisted men by Hunter show a date of March 11, so it was
almost certainly one of those two dates).29
Leaving his most of escort behind, McCleave went with two men to the home of
Ammi White, the miller and federal purchasing agent who had been arrested by
Hunter (White had, by this time, already been sent to Tucson under guard). When
McCleave knocked on White's door, a man answered, dressed in civilian clothes.
This was actually one of Captain Hunter’s men, roused from sleep by the knock
at the door. When McCleave asked to see Mr. White, the man left and returned
with another man who said he was Mr.. White (it was, in fact, none other than
Captain Sherod Hunter himself, posing as the miller). Captain McCleave, who had
never seen White personally, and who believed himself to be among friends,
innocently answered a number of questions for Hunter. As they spoke, a large
number of other men (also Confederate soldiers) drifted into the room. Finally
Hunter, having learned everything he wished to know, revealed himself. Suddenly
drawing his pistol, he informed the astonished Union officer that "I am Captain
Hunter of the Southern army. Consider yourselves prisoners. Lay down your
arms." When McCleave responded that he would do nothing of the kind, Hunter
warned, "If you make a single motion I’ll blow your brains out. You are
in my power, surrender immediately." McCleave did so. And shortly afterward
Hunter's men captured the rest of McCleave's escort without a shot being fired.30
The outraged McCleave is said to have challenged Hunter to a fist fight, but
Hunter declined, doubtless with some pointed remark to the effect that "all
is fair in love and war."31 McCleave and
his men were soon on their way, under guard, to Tucson.32

The capture of
McCleave did not end Hunter's activities at the Pima villages. While still at
that place, he learned that the Union forces had been storing hay at all of the
former Butterfield Overland Stagecoach stations between the villages and Fort
Yuma.33 The need to provide forage for the
large number of animals moving with the California Column through the arid
wastes of Arizona was an "Achilles Heel" that could be exploited to
delay any invasion of Arizona from California, and Hunter determined to do just
that.34

Hunter sent out
detachments to burn the hay, which they succeeded in doing at six of the
stations.35 Although it is not certain, it is
possible that some of Hunter's patrols reached the banks of the Colorado River
whilst searching for these stations. But whether they did or they didn’t,
these probes marked the westernmost penetration of the Confederate Army during
the war. And it would be a hay-burning detachment which would precipitate the
farthest west skirmish of the war, at Stanwix Station.

Lt. John W.
"Jack" Swilling

Arizona Guards

On March 30, 1862,
Confederates possibly under the command of Lieutenant John W. "Jack"
Swilling36 were torching the hay stored for the
use of the Union army at Stanwix Station, an abandoned stop on the old
Butterfield Overland Stagecoach route located on the Gila River, about 80 miles
east of Fort Yuma. While they were engaged in this activity, they encountered
the vanguard of a force of 272 men, sent from Fort Yuma to the rescue of the
hapless Captain William McCleave (captured by Hunter at the Pima villages on
March 18). This Union force was commanded by Captain Wllliam Calloway. The
Confederates fired at the approaching Yankee soldiers, wounding Private William
Semmilrogge of the First California Cavalry in the right shoulder (Semmilbrogge
survived the wound). The Confederates then fled, pursued by a detachment of
Union horsemen under Captain Nathaniel Pishon. They eluded the pursuit, and by
hard riding were able to bring word of the skirmish to Tucson by April 5, when
Hunter's official report was made.37

Captain Hunter,
upon learning of the approaching Union force, did two things. First, he disposed
of his prisoners, paroling Captain McCleave's nine-man escort and sending them
back to Fort Yuma, and sending McCleave and miller White under guard to Mesilla,
on the Rio Grande.38 The escort assigned to
convey McCleave and White to Mesilla was none other than Lieutenant Swilling,
who had just returned from the engagement at Stanwix Station. Swilling left for
the Rio Grande with his prisoners by April 6, 1862 (Swilling thus could not have
commanded the Confederate forces at the upcoming battle of Picacho Pass...he was
many, many miles away when the battle occurred. That Swilling was present at the
said battle is one of the most persistent myths surrounding that event, found
even in very recent history texts).39Second, Hunter stationed a picket detachment on the Fort Yuma-to-Tucson road
at a place called Picacho Pass. This detachment consisted of Sergeant Henry
Holmes and nine men.40 There was at that place
a former station of the old Butterfield Overland Stagecoach line, as well as a
spring, and the elevation of Picacho Peak afforded a sweeping view of the
surrounding country...a perfect observation point for pickets watching for
invaders from the north.

The Union force
encountered by the Confederates at Stanwix Station soon moved on to the Pima
Villages, and thus the stage was set for the westernmost battle of the War
Between the States, the Battle of Picacho Pass. Captain Calloway, the Union
commander, heard upon his arrival at the villages of the Confederate picket post
at Picacho Pass.41 Calloway had orders to
attempt the capture of Tucson, and he realized that the pickets stationed at
Picacho could warn the Confederate commander there of his approach. He therefore
determined to capture them, and thereby preserve the advantage of surprise for
his attack on Tucson.42

Calloway divided
his force. Leaving the Pima Villages on April 14, he personally led the main
force of cavalry and infantry from the Pima villages directly down the Tucson
road. He also detached two squads, one under the command of Lieutenant Ephraim
C. Baldwin, and another of 12 men under the command of Lieutenant James Barrett,
and ordered them to circle around the eastern and western faces of Picacho Peak,
entering the pass from the south and cutting off the retreat of the Confederate
pickets holding the pass. Barrett made better time, and arrived at the pass on
April 15, 1862, while Lt. Baldwin’s party and the main body were both still
some miles away. He had orders to wait for the main body, but like Custer at the
Little Big Horn 14 years later, he disobeyed orders and attacked immediately.43

Barrett sighted
the Confederate campsite, and ordered his men to charge. Barrett fired his
revolver and shouted for the three Confederates then at the campsite (Sgt.
Holmes, and Privates John Hill and William Dwyer) to surrender. The surprised
Confederates threw down their arms as the Union cavalrymen swept into the
encampment, and the Unionists made them prisoners. However, the noise of
Barrett's firing and shouts alerted the other seven Confederates to the danger,
and they gathered together in a defensive position in a nearby thicket. There
they prepared a nasty surprise for this brash Union officer and his men.

Barrett, learning
from his prisoners that other Confederates were nearby, ordered his men to mount
and move to flush them out. Barrett's civilian Scout, one Mr. John W. Jones,
pleaded with the Lieutenant to go in dismounted, knowing that the mounted men
would present perfect targets. It is likely that Jones also feared that the poor
quality California horses on which the Union troops were mounted would likely
pitch their riders at the sound of gunfire. Barrett refused to heed the words of
this civilian, mounted his horse, and led his men into the thicket. The civilian
scout's warnings proved prophetic...the advancing bluecoats were met by a volley
of gunfire as they entered the thicket which, as Captain Calloway later
reported, "emptied four saddles." Calloway doesn’t specify how the
saddles were emptied, so whether the four Union riders were victims of
accurately-aimed Confederate bullets, or were ignominiously dumped from the
saddle as their horses reared in fear at the sound of he Confederate guns, is
open to debate. 44

Barrett now
ordered his men to dismount, and to advance on foot. For the next ninety minutes
the two sides fought desperately in the mesquite and sahuaro thickets on the
slopes of Picacho Peak. When the shooting ended, three of the Unionists lay
dead, and three others were wounded. The dead were as follows...Lieutenant James
Barrett, shot through the neck; Private George Johnston, Company A, First
California Cavalry, shot through the heart; and Private William S. Leonard of
Company D, First California Cavalry, shot in the back (the bullet ranging upward
exiting out of his mouth).45

The Union dead
were buried where they fell on the battlefield, and a rough wooden cross was
erected to mark the spot. Interestingly, only one of them remains there today.
In 1892 the Army removed the remains of Privates Johnston and Leonard to the
national cemetery at the Presidio, in San Francisco, California. The remains of
Lieutenant Barrett were not found at that time, however, and it would not be
until 1928 that his remains would be found. Southern Pacific Railroad workers
stumbled upon the remains only yards away from the railroad embankment they were
constructing. These workers erected a stone monument over the gravesite in honor
of the Lieutenant and the two other Union soldiers who died in the westernmost
battle of the War Between the States. The monument has since been removed to
Picacho Peak State Park, where it can be seen today. But Lieutenant James
Barrett lies still where he fell in 1862.46

The three Union
wounded were Corporal Botsford and Private Tobin of Company "A", First
California Cavalry, and Private Glenn of Company "D" of the same
Regiment. Private Tobin narrowly escaped death...he was shot in the forehead,
but his hat decoration deflected a bullet that would almost certainly have been
fatal otherwise. The other two received wounds that were less serious, and all
three made full recoveries.47

Confederate
Cavalry ride away from Picacho Peak

April 15, 1862

The Union report
on the battle, penned by Captain Calloway on April 18, 1862, states that in
addition to the three captured Confederates, three other Confederates were
severely wounded.48 However, this is not borne
out either by Confederate muster rolls or by Captain Hunter's own report of the
battle. Surely if any had been wounded, Hunter would have mentioned it, and thus
it seems most likely that these Confederate "casualties" were only a
bit of wishful thinking on Calloway's part (Interestingly, recent research has
shown that James Green and Daniel Gilleland, who were Confederate soldiers
supposedly wounded at Picacho Pass, and who supposedly later died of said
wounds, were not members of Hunter's Company at all, and were not present at
Picacho Pass. Their compiled service records, now in the National Archives, show
that James Green was a member of Company H, 5th Texas Cavalry, and Daniel
Gilleland was a member of Company D, 4th Texas Cavalry, both of which units
served with Sibley's Army of New Mexico which advanced up the Rio Grande toward
Albuquerque while Hunter's Company went to Tucson. Private Green died of fever
in a military hospital at Dona Ana on May 1, 1862, while rivate Gilleland died
of wounds received in the battle of Valverde, February 21, 1862).49

Union Captain
Calloway, upon learning of the results of the battle at Picacho Pass, seems to
have been struck by misapprehensions regarding the size of Hunter's force at
Tucson. In his report he states his belief that the enemy force numbered
"about 200 or 230."50 He may also
have read reports in some of the California newspapers which said that the
Confederates at Tucson could muster as many as 1,500 men.51
He ordered a retreat, first to the Pima villages, and then to Stanwix Station.
There he awaited the coming of reinforcements. These reinforcements soon
arrived, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Joseph West. West assumed
command of the combined force, and ordered an advance to the Pima villages,
which were reached near the end of April. An earthwork fortification, named Fort
Barrett after the officer killed at Picacho Pass, was constructed near White's
Mill, and the Union force settled down to gather supplies and prepare for the
final advance on Tucson.52

James H. Tevis

Captain Hunter's
reaction to the news of the battle at Picacho Pass was to send a detachment of
ten men, under the command of Lieutenant James H. Tevis (recently returned from
Sonora, Mexico, where he had commanded the escort of Colonel James Reily) to the
battlefield in search of the missing Confederate pickets. Tevis arrived in time
to see the retreating Union force, which he estimated at 200 cavalry and five
wagons (a remarkably accurate guess), on the road toward the Pima villages.53
Hunter was dismayed when Tevis made his report back in Tucson. If he were to
hold onto Western Arizona for the Confederacy, reinforcements would be needed,
and quickly.

On April 18, 1862,
Captain Hunter wrote to Governor Baylor at Mesilla, making his official report
of the events at Picacho Pass. He also passed on his latest intelligence report
regarding the size of the Union forces then encamped at the Pima villages, and
requested reinforcements. "Our position here is rather critical,"
Hunter wrote in a classic understatement, "though with a reinforcement of
250 men we can hold in check all the forces that can be sent from Calafornia
(sic)."54 No reinforcements were
forthcoming. however, for by now the Confederate Army of New Mexico had met
defeat at the Battle of Glorietta Pass, and was in full retreat back to Texas.

Graves of
four Confederate soldiers killed by Apaches, 5 May 1862

Dragoon Springs,
Arizona

On May 5, 1862,
Captain Hunter's Arizona Rangers had the first of two engagements with the
Apache Indians. A Confederate foraging party, gathering cattle in the vicinity
of Dragoon Springs (just south of the present day town of Dragoon, Arizona) was
attacked by a large band of Apache warriors led by their war-chiefs, Cochise and
Francisco.55. Four of Hunter's men were killed,
and the Apaches stole 25 horses and 30 mules.56
The dead Confederates were buried at the Butterfield Overland Stagecoach station
at Dragoon Springs. The graves were later found and recorded by the advance
elements of the California Column, and in fact still exist today on land owned
by the U.S. Forest Service. Rough stones identifying two of the men...one for
Sergeant Sam Ford which is dated May 5, 1862 and one with no date for "Richardo,"
a Hispanic lad who was probably a recent recruit from Tucson...still stand on
the site (Interestingly, there is a report made after the war by a former member
of the Union California Column which states that the foraging party included 3
Union prisoners, members of the detachment commanded by Captain William McCleave
which had been captured by Hunter at the Pima Villages in March, 1862. The said
report states that these men fought the Apaches alongside their Confederate
captors, and that one of them inscribed the said headstones. However, it is
known that Hunter had in April paroled the 9 enlisted men captured withMcCleave
and sent them on their way to Fort Yuma, and McCleave himself would have been in
Mesilla by this time. So this romantic story would seem to be apocryphal). One
of the other two graves probably is that of one John Donaldson, another recent
recruit from Tucson, based on an obituary written by Arizona mine pioneer and
mine owner Sylvester Mowry shortly afterward.57
Until recently the U.S. Forest Service had the graves incorrectly marked as
being those of Union California Column soldiers, but this has been corrected
with the help of the Arizona Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans.

The Confederates
would have their revenge a few days later. On May 9, 1862, a force of 30 men
under the command of First Lieutenant Robert L. Swope was sent out to recover
the cattle and mounts lost to the Apaches on May 5. Swope surprised the Apaches
and, according to a postwar account by Private Thomas Farrell of Hunter’s
company, "ordered a charge, leading it himself at least three horse-lengths
ahead of his men." Swope is also said to have "shot one Indian who was
fixing an arrow to shoot," and "before the red could fall from his
horse...had him scalped." The Apaches lost five killed, with no loss to the
Confederates. Much of the livestock was recovered, and the Confederates returned
in triumph to Tucson.58

On May 14, 1862,
possibly upon receipt of a report (no longer extant) informing him of the
Confederate reversals in New Mexico, Captain Hunter gave the order to evacuate
Tucson. The Confederate cavalry rode out of town, never to return. Only
Lieutenant James H. Tevis and a small detachment remained in Tucson, with orders
to watch for the expected approach of the Union forces and to report their
arrival to Captain Hunter.59

On the very same
day that Hunter’s command rode out of town, Lt. Colonel Joseph R. West and
four companies of California infantry and cavalry left the Pima Villages and set
out for Tucson. Rather than advancing directly on Tucson, however, the Union
force instead moved first to occupy Fort Breckinridge, northeast of Tucson.60
The fort had lain abandoned since the departure of the U.S. Army in May 1861,
who had set it afire upon leaving. West's command arrived at the fort on May 18,
raising the Stars and Stripes once again over its blackened ruins. Upon his
arrival at the fort several days later, Colonel James Henry Carleton, overall
commander of the Union California Column, renamed it Fort Stanford, after Leland
Stanford, Governor of California.61

Lt. Colonel West
was not present for Carleton's re-naming ceremony...he and his command had
already departed for Tucson the next day. On May 20, 1862, with bugles sounding
and guidons fluttering in the breeze, West's cavalry galloped into Tucson. The
infantry marched in shortly afterward, with fifes and drums gaily playing
"Yankee Doodle." The Union troops, expecting a fight with Hunter's
Confederates, were met only by the bemused stares of Tucson's few remaining
citizens after their overly dramatic entrance into the town.62

The last remaining
Confederates in the town, Lt. Tevis and his detachment, were almost captured by
the Unionists...expecting them to arrive in Tucson via the northwest road from
Picacho Pass, Tevis and his men barely had time to flee from the town as the
Yankee cavalrymen charged in from the northeast. Tevis later wrote of the
incident, "They got too close for my health and I left." Tevis and his
detachment got away clean, and later rejoined the rest of Hunter's command at
Mesilla 63 . .

Captain Hunter and
Company A, Arizona Rangers, arrived at Mesilla on May 27, 1862.64
The company was soon combined with two other Arizona units to form Lt. Colonel
Philemon Herbert's Battalion of Arizona Cavalry. Hunter's Company became Company
"A" of said battalion, while the Arizona Guards, under Captain Thomas
Jefferson Helm, became Company "B," and the Arizona Rangers of
Mesilla, formerly commanded by Captain George Frazer but now commanded by
Captain Granville Henderson Oury, became Company "C." 65
When most of the Confederate Army of New Mexico, under Brigadier General Henry
Hopkins Sibley, departed for San Antonio, Herbert's Battalion was among the
units left behind, under the command of Colonel William Steele, in a forlorn
attempt to hold the Mesilla valley and the El Paso region for the Confederacy.66

A prime concern of
Steele's command during this time was obtaining adequate supplies. Confederate
foraging parties were sent out to requisition food, horses, mules, and other
supplies from the native Mexicans of the surrounding region.67
Captain Sherod Hunter and the Arizona Rangers were involved in these foraging
expeditions, and, like many other Confederate units during this period,
encountered resistance from armed parties of New Mexican guerillas. On July 1,
1862, Hunter and his men had a sharp clash with these guerillas near Mesilla.
Hunter's men apparently lost several horses and their equipment during this
encounter, but no casualties killed or wounded. It is not known whether or not
any of the guerillas fell victim to Confederate bullets during this engagement.68

The clash between
Hunter's Confederates and the New Mexican guerillas took place as the days of
Confederate Arizona were at last drawing to a close. Three days later, on July
4, 1862, advance elements of the California Column reached the banks of the Rio
Grande near Fort Thorn. Within three days after that, Colonel Steele and his
entire command (including Hunter and the Arizona Rangers) were in retreat to San
Antonio and safety.69 The Arizona Rangers were
thus among the very last Confederate units to withdraw from the Confederate
Territory of Arizona, and with their going, Confederate Arizona ceased to exist.

NOTES

1The
original order is found in the Sherod Hunter "Jacket" in the National
Archives, "Collections of Private Military Papers of Officers of the
Confederate States Army.".

The invasion
and capture of the Union garrison at Fort Fillmore is described by John Robert
Baylor in a report to Capt. T. A. Washington, Assistant Adjutant General, C.S.
Army, written on September 21, 1861 at Dona Ana, Arizona Territory, reprinted in
Calvin P. Horn and William S. Wallace, CONFEDERATE VICTORIES IN THE SOUTHWEST,
Albuquerque, New Mexico: Horn and Wallace, 1961, pp. 34-36, hereafter cited as
Horn and Wallace; Baylor’s Proclamation creating the Arizona Territory is
reprinted in Horn and Wallace, pp. 37-39; Sherod Hunter’s participation in the
campaign was later recalled by George Wythe Baylor, brother of John R. Baylor
and later commander of the Second Texas-Arizona Cavalry, in which Hunter served
as Major from October 1862 onwards. See Finch, "Hunter," p. 150.

4

Report of
John R. Baylor, September 24, 1861, reprinted in Horn and Wallace, pp 107-108;
Patrick Hamilton, THE RESOURCES OF ARIZONA, quoted by Rufus Kay Wyllys, ARIZONA:
THE HISTORY OF A FRONTIER STATE, Phoenix, Arizona: Hobson and Herr, 1950, p. 42.
Hereafter cited as Wyllys.

5

Trevanion T.
Teel, "Sibley’s New Mexican Campaign: Its Objects and the Causes of It’s
Failure." BATTLES AND LEADERS OF THE CIVIL WAR, Robert Underwood Johnson
and Clarence Clough Buel, Ed., New York: Century Magazine, 1883-1888, Volume II,
p. 700. Teel was John R. Baylor’s Chief of Artillery during the New Mexico
campaign.

6

Brigadier
General Henry Hopkins Sibley, letter to General Samuel Cooper, 27 January 1862,
reprinted in Horn and Wallace, p. 120.

This refers
to the raising of the siege of Tubac, Arizona, by the Tucson militia under
Granville H. Oury in September 1861. Whether the Tucson militia had a
Confederate flag is debatable. Odie Faulk, ARIZONA: A SHORT HISTORY, Norman
Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1970, p. 101, hereafter cited as Faulk,
states that a Confederate flag was presented to the Tucson militia in May 1861
(although other sources have stated the said flag was presented to a militia
company in Mesilla, not in Tucson at all). James F. Morgan, "Blue and Gray
on the Gill: The Confederate Arizona Campaign," CONFEDERATE VETERAN,
July/August 1990, p. 17, hereafter cited as Morgan, states that a
"Confederate force under Grant Ourey" from Tucson took the field
against the Apaches, implying that they did so under a Confederate flag. John
Ross Browne, ADVENTURES IN THE APACHE COUNTRY: A TOUR THROUGH ARIZONA—1864,
New York: Harper and Brothers, 1869, p. 150, hereafter cited as Browne, recounts
the episode a bit differently. Browne states simply that a "brave and
generous American, Mr. Grant Ourey," led a party of 25 men from Tucson who
scattered the Apaches besiegng the town of Tubac. This is actually somewhat
amusing...Browne was a strong Union man, and elsewhere in this volume (p. 25)
had, in a most uncomplimentary manner, called Sherod Hunter and his command a
"scattered company" of "roving bandits," and Hunter himself
a "guerrilla chieftain." Browne apparently did not know, or chose not
to dwell on, the fact that Grant (or Granville) Oury was a very dedicated Tucson
secessionist, had actually served as Arizona’s delegate to the Confederate
Congress, and later became a Captain in the Confederate Army!

10

Faulk, p.
101; Wyllys, p. 143.

11

The oath is
reprinted in Finch, "Hunter," p. 170.

12

Charles
Leland Sonnichsen, TUCSON: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF AN AMERICAN CITY, Norman,
Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1982, p. 62, hereafter cited as
Sonnichsen.

13

Finch,
"Hunter," p. 173; Wyllys, p. 147.

14

Brigadier
General Henry Hopkins Sibley, letter to General Samuel Cooper, January 27, 1862,
reprinted in Horn and Wallace, p. 120.

Sherod
Hunter, report to John R. Baylor, April 5, 1862, reprinted in Horn and Wallace,
pp. 200-201. Also, on April 5, 1862, Lt. Swilling signed a document certifying
his receipt from "S. Hunter Capt. Co. A Baylors Rgt," the following
items..."1 Navy Six Shooter...belonging to the Confederate States of
America" and "1 Navy Six Shooter belonging to Captain W McLave [sic],
now a prisoner and which I am to turn over to Said Capt McLave [sic] on my
arrival at Mesilla." This is found in the Sherod Hunter "Jacket"
at the National Archives.

The effort
of the civilian scout to dissuade Barrett from going in mounted is documented in
Captain William P. Calloway, report to Major Edwin A. Rigg, April 18, 1862,
reprinted in Finch, "Hunter," pp 205-206. The comments about the Union
riders being dumped from the saddle by their "poor quality California
horses" do not appear in this report. Calloway simply states that at the
first Confederate fire, "four saddles were emptied." That the
Unionists were dumped by their frightened horses is a supposition based on
numerous comments in the correspondence of Barrett’s commanding officer,
Colonel (later Brigadier General) James Henry Carleton, urging caution when
engaging in mounted combat with the enemy due to the untrained "poor
quality California horses" on which his men were mounted. Given the fact
that Calloway doesn’t specify how the saddles were emptied, and the fact that
the fight went on for a further one and one-half hours, this seems a logical
interpretation.

West’s
itinerary and a condensed history of the campaign from the perspective of the
Union California Column is given in an October 1863 report to Brigadier General
W. A. Hammond, Surgeon General of the U.S. Army, by Surgeon James M. McNulty,
Acting Medical Inspector of the California Column, reprinted in Calvin P. Horn
and William S. Wallace, UNION ARMY OPERATIONS IN THE SOUTHWEST, hereafter cited
as Horn and Wallace, "Union.", pp 81-90. Like Horn and Wallace’s
other book cited elsewhere in this article, this book consists of reprinted
reports taken from the United States War Department’s OFFICIAL RECORDS OF THE
UNION AND CONFEDERATE ARMIES IN THE WAR OF THE REBELLION.

Colonel
William Steele, report to General Samuel Cooper, Adjutant and Inspector General
of the Confederate States Army, July 12, 1862, reprinted in Horn and Wallace,
"Union," pp 129-130.

68

Hall, p.
363; Finch, PATHWAY, pp 164-166

69

The arrival
of the California Column at Fort Thorn is documented by a report from Brigadier
General James H. Carleton to Major Richard C. Drum, Assistant Adjutant General,
U.S. Army, July 22, 1862, reprinted in Horn and Wallace, "Union," pp
40-41; as well as by Surgeon James M. McNulty, report to Brigadier General W.A.
Hammond, October 1863, reprinted in Horn and Wallace, "Union," pp
81-90 The retreat of the Confederates on July 7, 1862 is documented by Colonel
William Steele’s report to General Samuel Cooper, July 12, 1862, reprinted in
Horn and Wallace, "Union," pp 129-130.

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